After Death
by midnathething
Summary: The thoughts that went through Deidara's head when he found out Sasori was dead.


**Authors Note: This story is a bit different from what I normally write, I hope I did an okay job of writing it though. If did I completely horrible job tell me in that little box at the bottom of the page, okay?**

**Sadly, I still don't own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden.  
**

**-midnathething**

**Bold is Black Zetsu.**

_Italic is White Zetsu._

Deidara jumped from under the ground, shaking himself lightly to get off any dust or dirt clinging to him. He'd have simply wiped his clothing off with his hands but as he was missing both of his arms after his fight with the Suna Jinchūriki and the later fight with the Konoha ninja he couldn't use his hands for much of anything. He'd have to go find his right arm and hope the Konoha ninja had left the area. Finding his arm while dodging around the Konoha ninja would be a problem.

The blond still couldn't believe his exploding clone had been countered. On the bright side, from his prospective at least, he'd gotten away. "Hm… I only lost my arm from below the elbow… I have to go find my right hand and the ring I dropped un…" Deidara muttered to himself, mostly so he had something to do. Sasori would call him stupid for the action but it helped Deidara focus so he didn't really care.

With a sigh the blond set off to find his arm.

. . .

"_Deidara, there's something you may want to know." _Said Zetsu as Deidara glared at the masked idiot Zetsu had called Tobi. The blond had stopped trying to strangle the masked man after Zetsu's paler half had threatened to eat him in his sleep. Deidara knew that Zetsu probably wouldn't eat him but the plant man's statement made Deidara realize that he was probably acting as childish as the masked man.

"And what is that Zetsu un?" Deidara asked, raising an eyebrow in irritation. Tobi, now somewhere to Deidara's left, was humming a song so badly Deidara couldn't even pretend to recognize it.

"_Well you see…"_ Zetsu trailed off, apparently trying to find a tactful way to say whatever it was he wanted to say. Black Zetsu sighed in irritation, **"Sasori's dead."** He stated tactlessly.

Deidara's face cleared of any emotion, causing the blond to resemble some of Sasori's puppets. "What?" The blond exhaled as if he'd been punched.

"**Sasori's dead."** Repeated Zetsu's black half. **"He's some puppet… thing. We have no interest in disposing of a body like that, since you were his partner you're going to take care of it." **Added Black Zetsu. "_Time to go Tobi, come on."_ White Zetsu called in the masked man's direction.

At some point the strange duo left but Deidara didn't pay attention to the duo leaving, he was too busy attempting to accept the idea of Sasori being dead. Eventually he decided it must have been some sort of sick joke, he'd go to where the base was and there would be Sasori, irritated that Deidara had wasted so much time and failed to catch the Kuubi Jinchūriki.

Except he wasn't. Deidara arrived where the base had been and was greeted with the sight of a collapsed hillside, any traces of the base that had been there long gone. Numbly the blond ran to the destroyed hillside, almost tripping over the broken puppets scattered across the area. When Deidara spotted the limp body of the redheaded puppet ninja a sound pain escaped his lips and he froze.

Two puppets were by Sasori, one on either side of him, the blades attached to their arms lodged through Sasori's chest, giving the vague impression of some sort of sick embrace. Ignoring the puppets Deidara ran over to the redhead's body. The capsule that contained his heart had been punctured, spilling an almost purple blood across the ground.

Carefully Deidara removed the weapons belonging to the two puppets from Sasori's chest, letting the puppet nin's limp body fall to the ground. The blond recalled Sasori's claims that he'd live forever in his "eternal body" while Deidara was sure to die long before him. Carefully Deidara turned over Sasori's body so he was on his back, dead eyes staring blankly at the sky above them. It was a difficult and painful task without his arms but Deidara didn't care.

"D-Danna w-wake up." Deidara commanded, kneeling beside the puppet nin. The blond lightly shook Sasori's shoulder, ignoring the pain from his missing arm caused by the action. "Come on Danna, you always bragged about how you'd live forever, don't tell me you let some teenage brat and some old hag kill you un." Hot tears spilled from Deidara's eyes.

"Dammit, wake up bastard, you can't be dead un! You promised you'd outlive me, you bragged about it! It was one of your favorite points in our arguments we constantly had. You can't be dead un." The blond sobbed, violently shaking the puppets shoulders.

Deidara sat there numbly for a few hours, unable to say anything as hot tears fell from his eyes, streaking his face and falling to the ground, occasionally landing on the lifeless puppet that had once been Sasori. "Do you remember how I ended up joining the Akatsuki un?" Deidara asked suddenly, his voice was hoarse from crying. He didn't seem to realize this.

The blond was shaking now, he wasn't sure if it was from being cold, blood loss, or the shock of Sasori being dead but he didn't really care. "I'm sure you do, you don't forget things like that Sasori… We were in Iwa un. You, Itachi, and Kisame showed up while I was on my own, practicing forbidden jutsu. You guys kidnapped me, my life was okay before you guys showed up you know un. I had an older sister and a little brother. My dad had recently died on a mission but he went out the way he'd have wanted to, fighting un. I'm not sure why I didn't try to go back, I had friends and family who thought I was dead and I could have comforted them, told them I was alive un."

"I think it's because you three changed me, it started with the genjutsu that dammed Uchiha used un. When you three took me from Iwa I finally felt free, the old man couldn't tell me what to do anymore. Sure I'd lost a lot, but I gained more than you'd think un. I hated all of you guys at first, for taking me away from my home, my family. All I could see was what I'd lost un. But… over time you guys grew on me un, you guys became the only people I ever really talked to so that's not too surprising I guess. You guys started to almost feel like a family un."

The blond shook his head. "I'm not sure why I'm telling you all of this now un… You're dead, I don't know if you can even hear me… But still, even if you can't hear me, I feel like I should tell you un. Sasori, for the past six years you've been the only thing that's always been there, always been the same, even if we didn't always get along because of our different opinions on art, I liked that un. It may not seem like it to you but to me… You were a friend un." Tears spilled from the blonds eyes again.

"Zetsu told me I'm the one who's got to dispose of your body you know. For a second I actually thought about doing it un, but I realized there's nothing you'd hate more than your body being destroyed, 'cause even if you are dead your body will still last forever un. You wouldn't want your body destroyed; you wouldn't care if your secrets got out to whoever found your body because it would still be around for generations, there for others to admire un." Deidara finally stood up, joints popping from moving after having been in the same position for so long.

"You'd hate me just staying here grieving too un, so I guess I'll go now." The blond turned and left, walking slowly.

It would be a long time before he'd be able to be back to his normal arrogant self. Part of Deidara wondered if he'd ever be the same again after having lost a friend so close to him. Shaking his head Deidara muttered, "Doesn't matter un." Sasori would think he was just wasting time grieving and worrying about things like what he'd be like now that Sasori had died.

"There's only one way to find out what I'll be like now un, and that's to move on. For both of us." Deidara glanced back at Sasori's corpse one last time before he left.


End file.
